Islanders general manager Garth Snow set a 5 p.m. deadline yesterday, and as it passed so did any chance defenseman Christian Ehrhoff would play for them.
After trading a fourth-round pick in next year’s draft to Vancouver on Tuesday in order to negotiate with the soon-to-be-unrestricted free agent, Snow recouped his loss just three hours after his self-imposed deadline by trading Ehrhoff’s negotiating rights to Buffalo for another fourth-rounder.
Once Snow made the initial deal with Vancouver, he began negotiating with Ehrhoff and his agent on a contract that would keep him from becoming a free agent tomorrow at noon.
Ehrhoff rejected Snow’s offer, and Snow immediately took it off the table and sent out a mass email to other NHL general managers in order to gauge the interest in obtaining Ehrhoff’s rights.
“We feel we put a pretty good package together,” Snow told The Post. “It’s disappointing. We made a good effort to make our club better.”
The 28-year-old, offensively talented blue-liner shot down Vancouver’s original contract offer after the season, estimated to be close to the five-year $23 million deal they gave fellow defenseman Kevin Bieksa.
Though Snow would not reveal the specifics of his offer to Ehrhoff, he made it clear it was substantially more money and more years.
“It’s well within a player’s right to make this decision,” Snow said.